Today HEC-TV conducted two videoconferences live from Barack Obama Elementary in the Normandy School District on the topic of the Civil Rights Movement. Several schools from across the country connected, including Ritenour High School in St. Louis. Cooperating School Districts helped with the bridging of these events through MOREnet.

The focus of the videoconference was not about exploring the details of America’s struggle for Civil Rights throughout its history, but to provide students the rare and important opportunity to speak directly with those who lived during one chapter in that time and are excited to share their experiences with others. HEC-TV’s guests for both programs were participants in CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), the St. Louis Jefferson Bank boycott of 1963, the 1964 protest for minority employment opportunities at the Gateway Arch, and the creation of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday as well as many other events related to Civil Rights. These four main topics were used as examples for students to provide both content and context and also an organizational framework for the program.

Web resources related to these events as well as short biographies of the guests were provided in the pre-program activities for students to use to prepare for the program and develop questions to ask the guests during the program today. An archived recording of the program will be available soon on HEC-TV’s website.